Our Staff | First United Methodist Church of Salisbury

Stephen D. Haines
Senior Pastor

Steve Haines brings to First Church a passion for creative Christian Ministry. It is Steve's belief that God has commissioned all churches to make a difference in the world by being living examples of the goodness of Christ. As a result, he believes that First Church is called to embody what its name says that it is "First",

First in compassion
First in Spirit led social consciousness
First in response to the needs of the Salisbury Community
First in leading people to the "Hope of God" offered through His Son Jesus Christ.

Steve has served as United Methodist pastor in Western North Carolina for thirty years and has dedicated his life to helping others understand the love that God offers them, as well as the Lord's expectation of His people to share that love with others. A native of Southern New Jersey, Steve is a graduate of High Point University, and the Duke University Divinity School. He has also done continuing education work at The Babcock School of Business at Wake Forest University, Candler School of Theology at Emory University, Asbury Theological Seminary, Interpreter's House, The Center for Creative Leadership in Greensboro, North Carolina. He has also served on several committees and agencies within the Methodist denomination and in the communities where he has lived. Steve and his wife Nancy, a Certified Critical Care Registered Nurse at Rowan Memorial Hospital, have three children, Sarah, a Musical Theater major at the Shenandoah University Conservatory; David, a junior at Salisbury High School and Kathryn, a freshman at Salisbury High.

Matthew Michael Brown
Director of Music

e-mail: matthew@fumcsalisbury.org

Matthew Michael Brown, a native of Burlington, North Carolina, is the Director of Music here at First United Methodist Church. At First Church, he oversees the Stanback Department of Sacred Music, which includes a graded program of five choirs and serves as organist for all liturgies throughout the year. He is also the Founder and Artistic Director of the church's successful concert series, FirstARTS. Under his leadership, the Chancel Choir of First Church has accepted invitations to sing in both the Washington National Cathedral and Saint Thomas Church in New York City.

Mr. Brown began formal organ studies for eight years with Wayne Leupold, which led to his acceptance to the North Carolina School of the Arts on full-scholarship as a Kenan Organ Scholar in the studio of Jack Mitchener. He subsequently completed graduate studies as a student of David Higgs at the Eastman School of Music, where he earned the Master of Music degree in organ performance and literature and the Sacred Music Diploma from the Institute of Musical Leadership. While at Eastman, he studied pedal clavichord with Joel Speerstra and organ improvisation with William Porter. In addition, he served as assistant organist to Peter DuBois at Third Presbyterian Church and as accompanist for the Eastman Chorale and Eastman-Rochester Chorus, both under the direction of William Weinert. Following graduate studies, he moved to New York City where he served on the music staff of historic Grace Church (Episcopal) and simultaneously pursued private studies with Dame Gillian Weir in the United States and abroad through grant sponsorship from The Robert Carwithen Foundation. Additional studies have been at the GOArt Organ Center in Goteborg, Sweden and the International Summer Organ Conservatoire in Orleans and Paris, France.

In competition, he has garnered top prizes in regional and national organ playing competitions including those sponsored by the Music Teacher's National Association and the Atlanta Chapter of the American Guild of Organists. A frequent recitalist, he has performed in such noted venues as Saint Paul's Cathedral, London, Assembly Hall of the Mormon Tabernacle's Temple Square, Saint Thomas Church in New York, Princeton University Chapel, and the Cathedral of Saint Philip in Atlanta. In addition to this career as a church musician and recitalist, he also enjoys the fulfilling life of an active collaborative artist including recent performances with the High Point Community Chorus and Carolina Baroque of Salisbury. His performances have been broadcast on the nationally syndicated program With Heart and Voice and American Public Media's Pipedreams, both which featured excerpts from his 2009 recording titled Collage.

A passionate advocate for the work of the Royal School of Church Music in America (RSCMA), he has served multiple years as organist for the RSCMA Carolina Summer Training Course and is currently a member of the RSCMA Interdenominational Committee which seeks to promote broader participation within the work of the organization. He is honored to have recently been appointed to the Board of Directors of the Wayne Leupold Foundation in 2012.

Stephanie S. Stroupe
Director of Youth Ministries

e-mail: stephanie@fumcsalisbury.org

Becca Blackmon
Business Administrator

e-mail: becca@fumcsalisbury.org

Brenda Roper
Administrative Assistant
e-mail: brenda@fumcsalisbury.org

Murl Leazer
Building Superintendent

Murl was born and reared in China Grove on a 105 acre farm on Webb Road. He attended China Grove Elementary School for eight years and graduated from China Grove High School. He drove a school bus the last two years of high school.

He married Patricia Olsen in 1966 and they have three daughters and six grandchildren.

Murl worked for the A & P for twenty years as Produce Manager and left to start his own cleaning business in 1978. The Leazers moved to Hendersonville in 1983 and left there in 1988 when Murl went to work for the Hartland Institute in Virginia, where his daughters attended college. While at the college, he was grounds superintendent and operated heavy equipment such as dozer, backhoe, track hoe, road grader, dump truck and tractors.

Pat and Murl moved back to Salisbury in 1997. Murl was hired by First Methodist in early 1998 as Building Superintendent.